The Staff was really just a big stick…Anyway, it was capped by an elaborate headpiece with a carving of the sun at the top. What you had to do was take the Staff to a special map room in Tanis--it had the whole city laid out in miniature on the floor. When you placed the Staff in a certain spot in this room, at a certain time of day, the sun would shine through a hole here in the headpiece and then send a beam of light down here—to the map--giving you the location of the Well of the Souls...

August 28, 2007

Of Grand Gestures

Ezra's got a post over at the Prospect about American aid and generosity. While it's couched in somewhat narrow terms, it's important to note that while American military power has been been a major portion of our global rep since WWII, American exceptionalism used to extend to nearly every area including aid and great achievements. I'm reminded of the episode of The West Wing where Josh tries to sell Donna on the idea that a manned mission to Mars was something that the US could do to regain some of our lost image. Well anyway, he certainly sold it better than President Bush did.

So how about it, let's hear some ideas for great projects that are currently achievable or are just barely out of our grasp technologically which you think would help with America's image.